This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Various different types of antennas are used in the automotive industry, including amplitude modulation (AM) and/or frequency modulation (FM) radio antennas, satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) antennas, global navigation satellite system (GNSS) antennas (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) antennas, etc.), cellular antennas, etc. Automotive antennas may be installed or mounted on an exterior vehicle surface, such as the roof, trunk, or hood of the vehicle to help ensure that the antennas have unobstructed views overhead or toward the zenith. The antennas may be connected (e.g., using one or more RF coaxial cables, etc.) to one or more electronic devices (e.g., a radio receiver, a touchscreen display, a navigation device, a cellular phone, etc.) inside the passenger compartment of the vehicle, such that the antennas are operable for transmitting and/or receiving signals to/from the electronic device(s) inside the vehicle.
It can be challenging to have good signal quality and higher performance with the conductive loss (e.g., RF coaxial cable loss, etc.) between the electronic devices, especially at higher frequency bands (e.g. 5.9 gigahertz (GHz)), and/or signal compression, etc.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.